this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 343 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Because hexagons are the bestagons.

[–] halvar@lemy.lol 43 points 2 weeks ago

the only answer i'll ever need

[–] RichardDegenne@lemmy.zip 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] not_so_handsome_jack@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Birch@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

[LOUD THUMPING TECHNOMUSIC]

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[–] Matty_r@programming.dev 27 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Bestagons, Roll out!

wait...

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This picture makes squares jealous

[–] hex123456@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s actually a cube.

Square Pride!!

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[–] y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 85 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

TIL all the Civilization maps are on Saturn

[–] NichEherVielleicht@feddit.org 7 points 2 weeks ago

That makes sense...

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[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 68 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It's less weird when you realize it's not a hexagon, it's a sine wave in cylindrical coordinates. There are a lot of negative feedback loops such that a sine wave can turn into a standing wave. You just have to get a little lucky with a couple important things like your rossby number et voila, hexagon.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)
[–] hayvan@feddit.nl 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Take this, bend it around the pole so it becomes circular.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

A planet with an investment chart for a pole. WHY.

[–] webpack@ani.social 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

sine waves aren't strictly an investment thing, they are more of a general math thing and can be used to model a wide variety of stuff (in this case this graph is for investing, but for example it comes up in physics a lot)

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[–] hayvan@feddit.nl 11 points 2 weeks ago

Capitalism ruining everything.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Here's a better visualization from Minute Physics how these "wave" patterns can make geometric shapes, using the fact that Earth's moon doesn't make a smooth circle around the sun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBcxuM-qXec

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

That doesn't sound less weird.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 57 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

That's where all the 10mm sockets end up

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Icytrees@sh.itjust.works 50 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] g0d0fm15ch13f@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)
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[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 43 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Because hexagon is bestagon!

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[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Base game got boring, I recommend the Ringfarers expansion.

[–] Bleys@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Somewhat topically, Terraforming Mars clears

[–] MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 34 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Things like Hexagons and the golden spiral occurring in nature are interesting - but very well-travelled.

[–] NichEherVielleicht@feddit.org 40 points 2 weeks ago


And I don't mean she travels a lot. -Bender Bending Rodriguez

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago

TLDR That's what happens when circles get squished together.

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Because storms want to be circles but any given gas giants atmosphere is basically a series of nothing but storms and when you tile circles you get a hexagonal grid due to the spaces in between them?

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[–] naught101@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago

Standing wave. Earth kind of has one in the jet stream (3 peaks and troughs though, usually), but you can't see it with visible light.

[–] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Aguiar, Ana C. Barbosa, et al. "A laboratory model of Saturn’s North Polar Hexagon." Icarus 206.2 (2010): 755-763.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 8 points 2 weeks ago

Get out of here with your real answers. 😜

I think the actual answer even with this source is, we sort of have some clues, but we have more questions too.

[–] InvalidName2@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

It is because this is how these things do be. QED.

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[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

To better understand how nature doesn't always make smooth circles out of circular patterns, this Minute Physics video does a banger job using the Earth's moon as an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBcxuM-qXec

For Saturn, you're talking about storm patterns that aggregate near the poles, but the concept is somewhat similar, which is that forces acting on objects (storms) can arrange circles into wave-like shapes.

All that said, I believe that Saturn's hexagon is still not fully understood, and still may be signs of a deeper alien death-star hiding in the clouds and we should probably like... I dunno, stock up on canned beans and toilet paper.

[–] Bonus@mander.xyz 11 points 2 weeks ago

Hexagons are just nature's way of making arrays of triangles.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 weeks ago

Based on what I recall of the explanation by the person who figured it out: spinning makes fluid near the edge spin faster than fluid near the middle. The difference in speed creates a wave. Since it's finite and moving, the wave interferes with itself and because of math, makes a hexagon. Something about how the wave pattern changes density and brings different glasses to the surface on the planets.
Then they showed an example by spinning a bucket, and it kinda fell flat because they had to explain that a bucket isn't a sphere so you have to spin it just right to get it to work, but it did work in the end.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What, you want to tighten the axis with a torx?

[–] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago
[–] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You get hexagons as well when you drill a countersink bit into plywood. Something something layers.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Did not know that so I looked on Google.

AI Overview That statement is incorrect. Drilling a countersink bit into plywood (or any wood) produces a smooth, conical hole, not a hexagonal one.

Followed by every article talking about why the bits make hexagons, with videos and pictures.

[–] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Haha I love AI! We're so close to AGI I swear bro!

Interesting, I've only had the hexagon thing happen to me in plywood, but it seems it can happen in regular wood as well.

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[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 weeks ago

I feel like I just got goatsed by Saturn

[–] Shaper@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This was the topic of an awesome old web comic strip, I believe it was from smbc. It was a debate of two where one would simply state the existence of the hexagon, with increasing amounts of slurs. Banger.

[–] Shaper@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago
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[–] Ulvain@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago

Because the fox made it into the henhouse.

Now all the hexagon.

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